Many fluid applicators, particularly ink applicators, have been developed for the purpose of increasing writing comfort. By increasing writing comfort, writing stress can simultaneously be reduced.
Pilot Corporation of America currently has on sale a retractable ball point pen sold under the name Dr. Grip.RTM.. The ball point pen is touted to have a therapeutic wide cushion grip which reduces gripping power. The wide cushion grip is also stated to relieve stress and writing fatigue, and has been advertised to be perfect for people with arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,681 discloses an ink marker bottle which is stated to be ergonomically constructed to enable it to be easily held and used. The bottle includes a shoulder portion, a central recessed portion, and a base portion. The central recessed portion of the body merges with the side wall of the shoulder portion at an upper flared surface. This upper flared surface is considered to be arranged to comfortably receive the thumb and index finger of one hand of a person holding the bottle when the bottle is to be held like a pencil or pen and inverted.
The Kiwi Company has currently on sale a polish applicator which is similar to the design of the '681 patent. The Kiwi bottle is made to be inverted in order to apply polish to a shoe, and includes an upper flared surface which can be comfortably received between the thumb and index finger of one hand of a person holding the bottle when it is to be inverted to apply shoe polish to a shoe.
Although many applicators have attempted to overcome the problem of writing stress, as well as providing means by which writing comfort can be increased, means have still not been supplied which are satisfactory for solving the inherent and other associated problems. It is, therefore, desirable to provide fluid applicators having structure that is much more beneficial and geared to a wider variety of uses.